Auburn officials plan to lower the speed limits on several key arterials starting this summer to keep drivers safe, they say, from the fallout of aging, deteriorating street surfaces.

Traffic safety engineer Pablo Para brought members of the City’s Public Works Committee up to speed Monday on the proposed changes, as follows:

• West Main Street between West Valley Highway and the Interurban Trail — from 45 to 35 mph;

• West Valley Highway between 15th Street Northwest and West Main Street — from 40 to 35 mph;

• 37th Northeast and Northwest, between Auburn Way North and West Valley Highway— from 40 to 30 mph.

“This is for safety reasons,” said City Engineer Dennis Selle. “We’ve gone out and studied some of our streets, and because of the condition of the pavement, to make it safe for the traveling public, we are proposing to reduce the speed limit … on some corridors and that’s the reason we are doing it.

“Speed is not going to change the deterioration of the pavement,” Selle added. “The amount of the trucks and the loading of the trucks is by far the overwhelming factor in the deterioration of the pavement.”

City officials are evaluating but have not yet decided to lower the speed limit on other corridors as follows:

• 37th Street Northeast Northwest from 40 to 30 mph;

• East Valley Highway between 37th Northeast and Lake Tapps Parkway from 40 to 35 mph; and south of Lake Tapps Parkway to 30 mph.

The City is proposing as well to increase the number of 35-mph speed limit signs along Lake Tapps Parkway.

Committee members also discussed setting the weight limit for trucks to 15 tons and allowing only local deliveries inside the City. The goal there would be to preserve deteriorating roads as long as possible from wear and tear caused by the large trucks.

Trucks found to be overweight would be in violation of City ordinance.

“How do police enforce that,” Committee Chairman Rich Wagner inquired.

“It’s probably not easy,” Para conceded, “but they can pull over a truck and find out where they’re going and where they’re coming from.”

If there is a question about the truck’s weight, said Public Works Director Dennis Dowdy, the usual procedure would be for the City to have the State Patrol bring in a scale to weigh the truck.

The recent defeat of the $59 million road reconstruction and maintenance bond was not mentioned during the meeting, although Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis has previously cited the City’s lack of funds to address problems on its aging arterials as a reason for lowering speed limits and setting new limits on truck weight.